place
Novum Comum
also: Novocomensis, Novum Comum, Como
Colony in Cisalpine Gaul (modern Como) refounded by Julius Caesar in 59 BC with a substantial injection of new settlers and grants of Latin or Roman status. Caesar's citizenship grants to Comensians were disputed by contemporaries (cf. consul Marcellus in 51 BC).
Reading notes
- Ad Familiares 13.35 §1 Through my good offices Caesar enrolled him among the men of Novum Comum
Novum Comum (modern Como) was a Cisalpine Gaul colony refounded by Julius Caesar in 59 BC with an injection of new colonists. Caesar's grants of Latin rights and Roman citizenship to its inhabitants were contentious — Marcellus, consul in 51, famously flogged a Comensian man to make the point that he was not a Roman citizen. Being "enrolled among the men of Novum Comum" meant acquiring Latin or Roman status through Caesar's dispensation.